Wasps in sting as Nick Evans fails to save Quins for once

Wasps used a shock victory at the home of the champions to disprove the theory
that in the Aviva Premiership nothing can be said to be certain except Nick
Evans kicking his goals and Harlequins winning tight matches.

Sting in the tail: Nick Evans missed a late penalty as Harlequins lost to WaspsPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

For the second time this season these two sides played out a pulsating London derby that came down to a kick at goal from Evans in the dying embers of the match.

In September’s London Double Header epic at Twickenham, Evans landed late a penalty to overhaul a 23-point deficit and snatch an improbable 42-40 victory for Quins. But on Saturday night, with just over a minute on the clock and Quins

trailing by one point, Evans, the league’s ultimate clutch kicker, pulled a 45-metre penalty wide to the right of the posts.

Wasps saw out the remaining seconds of the match to hang on for a win that keeps them in fourth place and on track for a play-off place. Harlequins, meanwhile, had to contend themselves with a losing bonus point that leaves them in second place behind leaders Leicester, who travel to the Stoop next Saturday for the highlight of the Six Nations fallow weekend.

Defeat ended a run of 10 straight victories in all competitions for Quins but it was the sight of Evans missing three kicks at goal and throwing an intercept pass to Tom Varndell for the game’s opening try that genuinely raised eyebrows.

Conor O’Shea, the Harlequins director of rugby, refused to point the finger at the All Black and instead apportioned the blame to his side’s failure to take their chances in attack. “It’s not about kicking. It’s about taking your opportunities. We had plenty of chances for tries with really good field position and we were turned over,” said O’Shea.

“From our point of view we weren’t accurate enough. We didn’t quite take the opportunities that came our way when you look at the momentum and good field position we had.

“It doesn’t happen every week. If you won every week it would be pretty straightforward. Good teams react and you don’t have a much better chance to react than playing Leicester at home next week.”

Harlequins’ fourth league loss of the season may only prove to be a mere stumbling block on their way to back-to-back titles but a first win at the Stoop for six years felt like a turning point for Wasps, who were so close to relegation, and possibly extinction, last season. They have always had talented individuals — none more so than wing duo Varndell and Christian Wade, who once again crossed for tries — but they are once again starting to resemble a well-rounded collective.

Varndell and Wade’s early scores gave Wasps a 14-0 lead that they never relinquished but it was their defensive graft and collective spirit, and not their attacking endeavours, that ultimately delivered their second away win of the season.

And as if to illustrate this fact Quins could only breach the Wasps defence, thanks to Matt Hopper’s well-taken try, while the visitors were a man down following Chris Bell’s sin-binning for a high tackle on Nick Easter.

Wasps director of rugby Dai Young stopped short of labelling the win as the club’s finest defensive display of his tenure but suggested his players were beginning to enjoy themselves after securing the club’s future last season.

“Last season was just about survival but this year is about making some big strides forward,” he said. “We started gaining a little bit of belief and momentum from some of our home performances but we needed to back that up with some big wins away from home and you don’t get tougher or harder places to come than here. Hopefully it will give us some belief.

“It was nowhere near perfect. We still made mistakes but I thought the hunger, desire and work-rate were outstanding.”